Access "Not just a big switch"
This article is part of the Vol. 4 No. 12 February 2006 issue of Storage Products of the Year 2005
Fibre Channel directors offer ways to connect disparate SANs, isolate data and devices within a fabric, and deliver different levels of throughput on the fly. Here's how the big three directors match up. NO LONGER JUST A BIG BOX with lots of ports, the Fibre Channel (FC) director has become the cornerstone around which next-generation SANs will be built. As more organizations are faced with managing petabytes of storage, director-class switches are easing management tasks by isolating SANs within a single fabric, delivering a higher level of data protection, and parceling throughput to individual ports depending on changing application demands. Fibre Channel directors: Core components Click here for a comprehensive list of Fibre Channel directors: Core components (PDF). Of course, some things never change: First and foremost, companies look to directors to provide rock-solid stability with high levels of availability, throughput and port count. In this vein, the passive backplanes that are used in Brocade Communications Systems Inc.'s SilkWorm 48000, Cisco ... Access >>>
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Features
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- E-mail archiving moves downmarket
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Speed wars: Fibre Channel vs. Ethernet
Just as 4Gb/sec Fibre Channel is poised to make its move into the data center, Ethernet is roaring back with its 10Gb/sec technology. But the lure of pure speed might not be enough for Ethernet to overtake Fibre Channel--at least for now.
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Shopping for storage: One vendor or more?
Buying storage today is more difficult than ever. You need to get the best acquisition price, the lowest long-term TCO and avoid vendor lock-in. On top of it all, you must decide which is best: one vendor or more?
- EMC launches SMB line
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Best storage products of 2005
Our fourth annual Products of the Year awards spotlight the 15 new or enhanced storage products that stood out from the rest in 2005. The editors of Storage and SearchStorage.com, along with a panel of users and industry experts, selected these winning products based on their innovation and performance, among other criteria.
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- 10Gb Ethernet means more host support
- Survey says: Users opt for appliance-based virtualization
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Not just a big switch
Fibre Channel directors don't just provide lots of ports, they also offer ways to connect disparate SANs, isolate data and devices within a fabric, and configure throughput for specific applications. We look at how the big three directors match up.
- New benchmark measures array throughput
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Columns
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Marriott's lost tapes are just the latest in a string of high-profile storage snafus
Storage bin: Marriott's lost tapes are just the latest in a string of high-profile storage snafus. But with plenty of viable security solutions available, there's simply no excuse for these very public blunders.
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A toaster oven in the data center
by Stephen Foskett
The midrange array market may still be hot, but storage managers are wary of getting burned. While midrange vendors keep piling on the features, storage pros are becoming disenchanted with midrange systems despite their more modest price tags.
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Startups and standards
Startups and standards
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How safe is your archived data?
by Jon Oltsik
With government regulations like HIPAA and SEC 17a-4, archiving has become a global requirement. But how safe is all that archived data?
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Marriott's lost tapes are just the latest in a string of high-profile storage snafus
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